Latest / ShameOver - The Drink Less Podcast / Drink Like a European —Why Italians Don't Get Drunk (And What We Can Learn From Them)
Transcript
- Erica+ShameOver: Hey guys, welcome back to Shame Over the Drinkless Podcast. I apologize. It has been a little bit since I have been here. So I'm so glad to have you back, to have you be here. I this is gonna be I always say this, it's gonna be quick, but you know that for me does not mean it's like two minutes. So just wanted to do a quick update and some housekeeping with what's kind of going on right now, some very exciting stuff, a lot going on. I my husband and I got About I think it was 11 days kids free in Italy, and it was just amazing and magical and wonderful and all the things. a few things that I wanted to reiterate that people do internationally. It's not necessarily done here outside of Utah. by here I mean the United States. But when you drink internationally, if you order an alcoholic beverage, they bring you food. It might just be like little munchies to snack on, it might be bread, it might be whatever it is. They bring you food because they know the importance of eating while we drink. It's to not only help with flavor, it's to make sure you don't drink too much too fast, all of those things. So many other countries in the world, drinking is pleasure. That is literally the purpose is to get together socially, to have these pleasure, pleasurable drinks, and it's all experience. I I think here in the United States. Drinking culture is very different. I know because I'm starting to work more with high school kids and do corporate talks. And so much of what we learn is one, you're not supposed to legally drink till you're 21, which part of me very much agrees with that for the sake of our brains are not done actually developing until 25, 26 years old. So for my kids, I'm gonna beg them do whatever you want after 25 or 26. Just please don't ruin your brains before then because I would have loved to see how much more potential I possibly had it had I not ruined so many brain cells by drinking so much in my youth. So I do, you know, that that's kind of a thing. But countries all over the world drink a lot younger than we do, but their culture is drinking as a part of life. It's it's just something that they do. And yeah, a lot of those cultures do drink daily or encourage like a, you know, it it's a high alcohol consumption, if you will, but their purpose is not to get drunk. And that I think is a big difference with American culture and just how we see it. I know when I was in high school, even in college, even in my 20s, whenever I saw on TV, on movies, on anything, the parties, it was all kids getting drunk. Like literally that was the purpose. It was never, you know, an 18 year old sitting down to have a glass of wine or kids in college sitting down to have a glass or two of wine. Like it was always bench drinking. So it's very hard not to replicate that. But then you see in other things like most like Sex in the City, Scandal, all these shows that I watched a lot in my, I'd say, you know, twenties, those were also very they'd be drinking all the time. Like Olivia Pope would always have this big, beautiful glass of wine. But she also slept like what, one, two hours a day, like based on her role? Like that's not reality. And I think a lot of times we see, God, they're always drinking. But we don't actually see them drinking. And that one drink lasts them like seven hours, right? So I think we have to remind ourselves that like what we see there, because still, when I see some of these TV shows, I'm like, that wine does look good. So reminding ourselves that that's not quite reality. As we're getting older, for anyone listening to this, if you're like me and perimenopause and menopause, past it. If you are still young and fresh and everything, regardless, you're probably noticing each year or each couple years. You're not handling alcohol how you used to. Your hangovers are worse. They come easier. You don't have to drink near as much to get the hangovers, even if your tolerance is built. you just don't sleep as well. You notice more of the 3 a.m. wake wake up times if it's like me, you know, anything along those lines. So if any of that is ringing true for you, that's kind of your body's way of saying, like, I need you to slow down on this. So in Europe again, they always serve any alcohol must be served with food. So drink like the Europeans drink and always eat when you are drinking. It is a big part just to slow down and savor and remember that it's an experience and that the point should not be to get drunk. Secondly, a bunch of my drinking, it was the first time in years, probably since well before my second child, So probably five plus years. I don't know. First time in a very long time that I drank probably every day on vacation. that it's kind of crazy thinking of it that way. there was one maybe two times that I actually like did feel the buzz and was like really loving and kind of missing that feeling because believe me, I I do love it still. but every day I was hydrating a ton, even though you have to pay for every what you drink over there. but I was also drinking lower ABV options. It was crazy hot in Italy, just like everywhere else in the world right now, but everything I didn't want anything heavy, anything along those lines. So, like here, I would love like an espresso martini or something like that. But I was having Aperol spritz. It is the reason why they they made Aperol Spritz and all the spritzes is to lower the alcohol, ABV, alcohol by volume. of the drink. So it's a great way that Europeans use to still drink but be consuming less alcohol. Alcohol, as we know, is is a diuretic. It's going to get you go through your system and help you, you know, with with pee and all of that. But it is also really going to I love this. I lost my train of thought. Sorry. Alcohol's gonna drain you. So making sure that you, especially if it's already hot, you're you're sweating, you're doing all that, you need to stay more hydrated. And that is where it's really important. Having stuff like the the spritzes where there's a lot more soda water and stuff like that in it. Very, very great thing to do. So start implementing that. You can do that at home, especially if there's wines that I'm just like Well, I was really excited about this, but it's not like tasting good if I still decide to drink it. Now I'm much better at like not drinking it. But before I got there, I would water it down and make it a spritz and even put ice cubes in it. So do what is best for you to slow down, to help lower the volume, the alcohol, ABB, to make it more hydrating, anything along those lines. Those are all gonna be great things. Besides that Europeans are notorious in Spain, in Italy, even in France. They are notorious for long meals. They want you to stay and hang and not feel rushed and really just enjoy the experience. If if you notice, I've said it a ton of times, but it's all about the experience. All it's all about connection, being around who you're with, the loving on each other and like really finding that happiness together. And that is I think what is very easy to lose, especially in our American culture, where it is so go, go, go, work hard, play hard, all of those things. We're not necessarily looking for connection. It's just like, all right, let's go, time to drink, let's drink hard, let's drink fast, all of those things. I know that's how it was for me. So if any of these can help, please even just try one. You don't need to do them all. Trying one at a time is amazing. But like I always say, really, if nothing else. Focus on hydration and really focusing on that one drink per hour max is going to be so crucial. As a reminder, if you have not heard or if you've just forgot, our bodies can only process up to one alcoholic drink per hour. A lot of times, especially happy hour, anything like that, we're drinking a lot more quicker than that. So that is why we get drunk. That is why we're always chasing the carrot. And then we get, we end up Drinking too much and you know, making bad decisions or regretting our decisions or whatever you want to say. So focusing on one drink per hour max, and that is alcoholic drink. So that is not like a martini would be considered two, two and a half drinks. so kind of look into what what that means if you're not sure on what the alcohol actually is, but that can be really good to also like set a timer or just look at your clock and be like, okay, it's 5:30. I am not going to get another one until at the earliest of 6:30, and that is after I've drank a full glass or two glasses of water, whatever it is. So that are that's my quick tips for you today. I do want to make you aware of two things. I've maybe alluded to it, but not really. I don't recall. But I do have a new drink tracking app. It is everything that I wish I had, everything that I've learned as I've been going through this still to this day. And with my clients, it is free. So I will put a link to that if you are at all interested, please go try it. It's going to help you understand your drinking patterns so much more. I still use this and what we're six plus, yeah, maybe five, six years in. And I absolutely am still learning stuff about my drinking. one thing in for in particular, great reminder, I do not drink for negative emotions. That's my number one rule because if I do, that's when it's a lot harder to stop at my number or to drink mindfully. otherwise, you know, if I'm in a bad mood, if it's for a negative reason, it's a mindless drink, plain and simple. So that's one of my rules. Because of that, a lot of my drinking is happy, celebration, fun, connection, all of that, which there's also ways that that can easily turn into, oops, I I'm not remembering my off button. And this app is helping me still to this day understand that. It's also helping me understand that I still have certain tools and tricks that work for me. That if I don't put in place, it's a lot easier to go past my number. For me, that's typically two. I try to stick two or less when I do drink. since I've gotten back from vacation, even me, I have been drinking more than I was pre-vacation. So it is very easy to slip back into that. And that's where I'm noticing all these little things. I'm like, so even though I thought I had this mastered, if you're not mindful, it's very easy to slip into old patterns again. So Just reminder there. The other thing for those of you who are unaware, I do have my reset, which is basically meat in your pocket for four weeks. You can get direct access to me. Really, it's not four weeks. It's designed to be over four weeks, but you can do it how quick or how slow you want. I would rather have it be slower than too fast. If you do it too fast, you're not actually taking it in and you're not able to get all the content. You're not able to let it all soak in, all of that. So, but it's designed to be done one quick. prompt per day over four weeks. You get me in your pocket the whole time. So if you're like, hey, this doesn't make sense, you can ask me that question. I can respond directly to you. If you're like, hey, this is a win or this isn't working for me. That is exactly what it's for. So you get actually direct feedback from me on that. Plus I have a new add-on for that that is basically the Drain Class Accelerator that is two one-on-ones with me plus the reset. So not only are you getting to do this all throughout, but you have two individual one-on-one sessions with me to really help expedite everything. So if you are really wanting to transform your relationship with alcohol, if you want to be able to drink, to go to those girls' nights, happy hours, vacations, all the things, and don't want to worry about am I gonna get drunk? Am I gonna say anything that I regret? And is this gonna happen? Is that gonna happen? This is exactly what it's for. I knew for me, I never wanted to go sober. I never wanted to call myself sober. Even to this day, if I never drank again, I still would never call myself sober because once that label is there, the identity is there. And that can be very soul crushing if I changed my mind and was like, I do actually want to have this drink. It can really excuse my language, but be a mind fuck there. So for me, labels not not happening in my world. That being said, it is so important to have support along the way on this journey. We are not made to do this alone. It is so much harder. do it alone. So if you want someone in your pocket or face to face, virtually of course, who has actually been there, done that, who is with you in this, who still drinks and is proof that you truly can master moderation, learn how to transform your relationship with alcohol, still be able to drink and never have to do it going stone cold, turkey, sober, anything like that, I'm your girl. So with that, I'll put all that in the show notes. Hopefully I will have Fresh new episodes coming. I have so many recorded. I just have to get in there and do the editing. So hopefully I have a lot more coming for you in the coming weeks. But sending you all so much love. This is just a reminder to be kind yourself to others and most of all to drink on purpose. So cheers.